Classes to resume at Zion-Benton High School after strike ends
By Judy Masterson Sun-Times Media jmasterson@stmedianetwork.com January 10, 2012 6:32PM
Members of the Zion-Benton High School Federation of Teachers attend a meeting to vote on their contract. | Thomas Delany Jr.~ Sun-Times Media
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Updated: January 10, 2012 6:37PM
A four-day teachers’ strike at Zion-Benton Township High School ended Tuesday after the 280-member teachers union voted “overwhelmingly” to ratify a tentative labor agreement.
Classes and extracurriculars, including sports, will resume Wednesday.
Details of the three-year pact won’t be released until the District 126 School Board approves the deal in a vote scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday.
The tentative deal was reached through compromise on the two most divisive issues — salary and health insurance costs — school board attorney Anthony Ficarelli said. It was honed in an 11-hour negotiation session that ended at 2 a.m. Tuesday.
“It was hard work by both teams,” Ficarelli said. “Both sides made some compromises on salary and insurance that I think are beneficial to both sides and consistent with both sides hammering on the issues.”
Ficarelli said the session was “very professional, but at times there was some high anxiety levels (over) whether we could come to terms.”
Teachers went on strike Thursday after the union made good on its promise to strike if no agreement was reached in what turned out to be a nearly 14-hour mediation session that ended abruptly early that morning.
Two campuses that serve 3,000 students were closed for four days as union members took to picket lines.
The two sides began negotiating in April, but talks faltered after the school board declared an impasse Oct. 31.
Sticking points included a district proposal to change the salary structure that the union said would amount to a drastic pay cut.
Ficarelli cited a state-ordered deficit reduction plan and a flailing local economy as evidence the district needed financial relief, but the union argued the plan would hurt the ability to attract and retain top teachers.
Union President Corinne McGue said progress came faster after the two sides resumed off-the record, small-group conversations among negotiators.
“A lot of it is relationships,” McGue said. “Sidebars are where you get things done. You get a select group of vested parties together and have a conversation.”
McGue also credited her team.
“I couldn’t be more proud,” she said. “They’re all trained in negotiations. They’re all passionate and they’re all passionate educators — each and every one of them.”
The union won’t make the vote tally from Tuesday public until the new contract is officially approved.
Finals have been rescheduled for Jan. 18 to 20. Strike days will be made up on Jan. 16, Feb. 20, March 5 and April 6.
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